Describe star and snowflake schemas and their trade-offs.
Tests your grasp of data warehouse design trade-offs. Define star (denormalized dimensions) and snowflake (normalized dimensions) schemas. Contrast them: star is faster for queries but uses more space; snowflake is space-efficient but requires more joins.
This question tests your grasp of data warehouse design, specifically the trade-offs between query performance, storage, and integrity. A strong answer defines a star schema (central fact table, denormalized dimensions) and a snowflake schema (normalized dimensions). Then, it contrasts their core trade-offs: star schemas offer simpler, faster queries, while snowflake schemas reduce data redundancy and storage at the cost of more complex joins. A common red flag is declaring one schema universally superior without considering the use case.
Read the original → Wikipedia: Star schema
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- #data warehouse
- #analytics
- #sql
- #system design
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